Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Stormtalon 08-29-07, 11:28 AM	First the basic prologue: Two weeks ago at noon, everything changed. The day had started out like any other spring day, cool breeze blowing in from the southwest, maybe a light rain early in the morning, but the sun had quickly come out and lent a welcome warmth as the morning progressed. Still, something didn't feel right to you. There was an odd sensation of something pressing on you from all sides. It had been barely noticeable when you awoke, like maybe the cat had slept on your chest all night. As the day drew on, the pressure grew, becoming something unnerving, unnatural. You could see it on the faces of those around you -- they could all feel it, too. As noon approached it started becoming painful. Worse yet were the apparitions. They'd been at first brief flickering visions at the corners of your eye; gone when you looked straight at them. By late morning, they were all around you -- shimmering, overlapping people, buildings, animals and.... things. They seemed to press in on you and it quickly felt as if they were fighting you for the very space in which you stood. At noon, everything changed. The pressure vanished in an instant. The visions vanished in an instant. For a brief moment you felt relief, that the world had returned to sanity. At noon, everything changed. You remember the sound best as that of a giant mirror shattering, echoing from places that shouldn't even exist. The world around you shook -- an earthquake, you hoped. The reality turned out to be far, far worse. At noon, everything CHANGED.
Stormtalon 08-29-07, 11:29 AM	Next, the Prologue for those in a small, farming community: The shattering sounds echoed across the fields outside of town, rushed down the streets as if they actually had some sort of physical presence and even seemed to reverberate from within your very being. A deep, bass rumbling accompanied the sound of shattering, as if the mirror that had broken were far vaster than imagination could allow. Yet while the cacophony subsided, the rumbling continued to grow louder. A fissure opened up in the earth near the south end of town and spread east and west faster than the eye could follow. South of the quickly widening chasm lay the home of Matron Gruden, a disagreeable old woman who had been at odds with everyone else in town for as long as anyone could remember. She stormed out of her home, fire in her eyes, ready to take on whoever had disturbed her rest. She stopped in shock and stared at what was happening around her, and then, impossibly, the entire section of the land south of the fissure sped away far faster than even the swiftest horse in town could run. The last you saw of Matron Gruden was her standing at her door in incomprehending silence, then she was gone. Where the southern border of town had once been there now existed a sheer precipice. A few foolhardy souls edged up to it in the moments after Gruden's house vanished in the distance and gazed down to see what lay below. To a man, they staggered back from the edge and fell back on the ground, eyes wide with terror. That was when you realized that the rumbling had not completely stopped. New cracks appeared, this time 60 yards north of the original fissue. These were more normal, in that they didn't grow as fast as the first one had. A few people, yourself included, realized the meaning of these new fissures and started trying to get the attention of the people on the south side of town. Meanwhile, the cracks grew larger. A large section of land crumbled and fell into the void below before anyone south of the new fissures paid attention to you and the others, carrying with it blacksmith Teg's house and shop -- Teg and his entire family still within. The collapse progressed quickly after that, and few made it north of the new failures. The Harvest Temple and all the priests within fell in large chunks; the swimming pond was cut in half and drained over the precipice before the 8-year old Beklin twins could get out; Mayor Vildus' house disintegrated into splintered boards as the ground beneath it poured away like gravel. The mayor had been safely in the town hall on the north side of the central square, but the collapse claimed her husband and two-year old daughter. One-quarter of the buildings in town fell that day and took with them over five hundred of the town's three thousand residents. At some point in the late afternoon, after having done as much as possible for those left behind and tending to those injured in the inital shaking, you glanced skyward for the first time. A small bank of clouds hung low to the west, promising more rain perhaps, but what caught your eye lay beyond them -- above them. You counted over a dozen immmense, dark shapes hanging in the sky, miles above the clouds. To the south, beyond the new and raw edge of town, you could see another dark shape, many miles off. Rough and jagged below, yet smooth and rolling on top. You realized it was another chunk of land, floating impossibly in a vast airy waste. The hints of an unknown forest bristled on the near edge. That night, noone slept. Two weeks ago at noon, everything changed.
Stormtalon 08-29-07, 11:32 AM	Finally the prologue for those who were living in the nearby city: Two weeks ago at noon, everything changed. By just before noon the sense of pressure had built to where you actually felt pain. You thought you were going to be crushed to death if it continued. Claustrophobia. Terror. Unable to breathe. Unable to move. Shimmering images of people and creatures crowding in all around you, pushing in on you -- and all with the same sort of terrified expression on their faces as you knew was on yours. Then at noon, in an instant, the pressure vanished. The images vanished. A brief moment of silence rested over the city, and you saw the people around you still frozen, still wondering what had happened. The first sound you remember hearing was an oddly muted, wet pop. When you glanced to where it came from, the image became seared in your mind -- a frail, elderly beggar woman lay dead on the street, her body ruptured and bloody from the sudden removal of the pressure. Then, echoing from all around, came screams of loss and despair. You would later find out that it was not just the old and frail who died that way, but also all the infants in the city under about 2 months of age. Pregnant women miscarried -- many of them also died as a result. The final sound erupted as the cacophony of screams peaked -- the sound of shattering mirrors echoed throughout the city. Maddeningly, you couldn't tell where the sound emanated from; it seemed to come out of places and directions that sanity demanded simply could not exist. As it echoed and reverberated and eventually faded, you were able to finally tear your eyes away from the grotesque mess that had once been a beggarwoman. All around you, people stared blankly upwards. A small voice inside you begged you not to do the same, pleading that what could be seen above would be worse even than the sight of the dead beggar. Despite this, your eyes turned upwards. Above you the sky lay impossibly torn into shreds. Huge gaping holes stretched across the firmament; through them you could see stars, a moon, a sun not your own -- all layered one upon another as if you were looking at stacked and torn sheets. Your eyes (or maybe it was your mind) couldn't follow exactly what happened next: the sky and layers appeared to unfold of their own accord, stars, suns and other things moving faster than your eye could track. After a few moments the torn sky had been replaced by a vast blue expanse that held ominously dark shadows floating far above you. The reverie finally broke, and around you all the others who'd stood transfixed by what had just happened began moving to help the victims of the day. Two weeks ago at noon, everything changed.
Stormtalon 08-29-07, 11:54 AM	The basic conceit of this campaign is as follows -- something or someone unknown has caused at least a dozen separate Prime Material realms to violently collide, shatter and merge. What's left are islands of land floating in a vast --possibly endless-- skyscape. The islands range from small chunks of land maybe 5 miles across, to vast tracts 200 or more miles from edge to edge, and thickness ranges from merely 1 mile to over 10 miles. Early in the campaign, the only way to travel is by, oddly enough, river. When a river flows off of the edge of one island, it continues to flow through the air, taking on a cylindrical shape until it reaches the next fragment. Another feature is that the gods of all the involved worlds have gone silent. Augury and related spells simply fail. Clerics still are able to get their spells as they always have been, but that "personal touch" of the gods is missing. I am involving several published worlds in this mess -- FR and Eberron (like they haven't been through enough, poor bastages) will have chunks floating out there. Eberron isn't quite the same as in the published setting though; this one's been advanced 100 years, and was changed rather dramatically during a previous campaign (the Five Nations have been united, but under a Black Dragon empress -- long story, that). Finally, they'll discover that the only true languages that are common between worlds are Draconic, the Elemental tongues and Celestial & Infernal. It's up to the characters to figure out the various mysteries of what's happened. Who (if anyone) was behind it? Why did it happen in the first place? Where have all the gods gone? In the middle of all of this, there's going to be would-be tyrants seeing vast opportunities opening up before them.
Moniker 08-29-07, 03:26 PM	The prologue effing rocks! I am intrigued, and cannot wait to hear more about this interesting setting.
Stormtalon 08-29-07, 11:01 PM	Well, much of it is being decided "on the fly" as play progresses. Though the factions currently in play include: 1 Xorvintaal Dragon Mind Flayers of Thoon and a Lich whose nasty plan is soon to be introduced to the characters. The world-fragment they started on has a slightly Viking theme. Odin, Thor, etc, those are their gods. Upon taking care of a Hobgoblin uprising, they met an intrepid group of gnomes from Zilargo who managed to get there on their elemental-bound ship. So far they've travelled to a frozen fragment, meeting some Snow Elves and the Xorvintaal dragon who lairs in their town, dealing with the mysterious destruction of a human settlement near the elven town and "losing" three party members to the dragon's employ (aka: players got attacked by Real Life and had to be replaced). Right now they're investigating a smallish (5 miles across, roughly) fragment whose major features are as follows: 1) a massive wall stretching from one side to the other 2) a closed gate across the river 3) blasted, dead grey land covered in brittle bones 4) wandering undead and oozes This is the remnants of a world that had been for a long time dominated by rival empires of Liches. They're going to get a few clues here, but another fragment some distance away holds plenty of answers, and some rather bizarre intrigue. The current players: Lybelia: halfling rogue -- very selfish, very amoral, very prone to practical jokes. Has only one other person that she cares about. Boko: gnome wizard. The most obnoxious sort of know-it-all you'll ever meet, but handy to have around when things get ugly. An unnamed Warforged fighter: just joined up. the typical bruiser, but is a defector from the Lord of Blades and is hunted by his men. Half-elf Ranger/Wizard (whose name I don't recall at the moment, is aiming for Arcane Archer): the Warforged's companion and only friend at the moment. Claustrophobic and hates boats. He's pretty miserable right now, what with the enclosed spaces on the gnomish vessel. Dwarf Monk (again, name escapes me for now): has a thing for liquor. Singe: half-orc rogue. 7 feet tall, 381 pounds, pure muscle, but absolutely zero brains, common sense or personality. Oddly enough, he's Lybelia's lover. Quirk of note -- he wears a large Sap as a belt, and is more than capable of wielding it two-handed.
Sliversun 09-01-07, 11:03 PM	Looks interesting. Please update soon!
Orion__ 09-02-07, 06:31 AM	A character without a name? :eek: Anyway, looks interesting. I like it when people post not only about their campaign worlds, but also about the sessions themselves. I've never had the will to keep a chronicle...
Stormtalon 09-04-07, 07:48 AM	Yeah, the warforged this guy plays tend to not have names, to start out. It's part of their character development as the campaign progresses -- and he's actually able to make them distinct each time despite the lack of an initial name. Actually, I think the half-elf ranger did name him. I'll post the names after the next session. There's also a warforged scout NPC named Number 36 on the gnome ship they're currently travelling on.
Stormtalon 09-21-07, 12:30 PM	Last session was two weeks ago. They still haven't gotten beyond the wall, but are making progress in that direction. Having a pair of Raven familiars available, they started scouting the wall, staying a good 100' away at all times. One raven flew low along the wall, the other flew high and spotted a large number of skeletons standing guard atop the wall. They didn't react even when the raven landed on one (and checked for any tasty bits of eye that might have been left behind). The raven also noted a sigil attached to each skeleton's forehead. Shortly after the reports came back from the familiars, the party noticed a group of.... somethings moving towards the wall about 300 feet from where they were. As they got even with the party (still 300 feet away, but now same distance from the wall), the things were cut down by a massive volley of arrows from atop the wall. All but the ranger/wizard decided to return to the ship and figure out what to do next. The warforged offered to check the riverbottom and see if there was a way under the gate. So, with a rope attached to him and spooling from a crank on the deck, he jumped in and slowly moved towards the gate. Visibility in the water -- 5'. Thus, he didn't notice the crocodile ghoul until it was right on top of him. A bit of a pitched battle ensued, but the rest of the party was able to help when Singe had a rare good idea and reeled the warforged to the surface, where they finished off the undead croc. A second expedition underwater revealed bars meeting the bottom of the gate about 20 feet below the surface. After the warforged returned and revealed his discovery, the group decided to go see what the ranger had been up to. Meanwhile, the ranger/wizard crept ahead to the creatures that had been slaughtered and discovered it had been a pack of ghouls, and the arrows used had much broader heads, with a leading bladed edge (aka, these arrows do slashing damage). A commotion farther down along the wall got his attention, and he saw a group of 4 large insect-creatures buzzing the wall, and though they were too far away for details, he thought he saw riders on them. They were shot down after not too long, falling to the dead earth about 300 yards from him. Again, he moved cautiously ahead to find out what these were. As it turned out, it was a group of hobgoblins which had been mounted on spider-eaters. Closer inspection showed they were wearing a very odd sort of armor that looked more like insect shells than metal, and in one case, the armor itself appeared to have been bleeding. They all had quivers of arrows, but he didn't see any bows, just some dead, oddly-shaped insects, and one that seemed to be still alive. Curiosity getting the better of him, he started examining the one that was still moving -- when it latched onto the back of his bow-hand, wrapped its long, fleshy tail around his arm and attached the tip of its tail to the back of his neck. After recovering from shock and surprise, a bit of quick experimentation revealed it to be some sort of living bow, and a hint of a name seemed to form in his head: "Forest Jewel." The rest of the group reached him at this point (and he had to shake off Lybelia's "Crap! You got something on your arm -- a big bug, lemme kill it for you!"), where they discussed what to do next. A door opened at the bottom of the tower just then, and a figure yelled out in an unknown language, and seemed to beckon for them to come to the door....
Stormtalon 09-21-07, 12:31 PM	Forest Jewel (Living Bow): +1 Mighty Composite Longbow (Max Str adjst +5, but adjusts self to wielder) Owner gains the benefits of the Quick Draw and Precise Shot feats for this weapon only. Drains 20 out of every 1000 xp gained by its wielder and stores them. When enough is collected to add another +1 bonus, it can be upgraded based on the wielder's needs, or can continue storing for a larger boost later on. The Forest Jewel is an insect-like creature at first glance. It has a flat, broad body about the size of the back of a human hand, with three small legs set towards the rear third of its carapace. Two much larger legs extend off to either side of its head; oddly enough the first joint of each of them bends downward, making it appear awkward and ungainly. Between the front legs are three gem-like eyes and three leathery antennae. A six-foot long tail extends out the back. When it finds/is found by a suitable wielder, it quickly attaches itself to the back of their left hand, grasping the person's wrist with its hind legs and clamping its antennae down between their fingers. The tail wraps itself around and up their arm, attaching its tip to the base of their neck. The process is rapid and painless, and its new owner gets a sense of contentment coming from the Forest Jewel. At will, it can extend its long forelegs, running a strand of strong silk between them and becoming in all respects a Mighty Composite Longbow equivalent to the wielder's strength bonus. Enemies targeted by the wielder become highlighted in his vision, allowing him to better place shots between allies. As the bond between Forest Jewel and its owner grows stronger, the creature starts to adjust its abilities to better match their needs.